Dillinger

During the Great Depression, when the American financial system had very few fans, the media depicted John Dillinger as a sort of Robin Hood hero for robbing dozens of banks across the country and escaping from prison twice after being caught, all before the police killed him at 31 years old. Of course, he was also a ruthless madman who murdered ten men because they got in his way. Based on an original screenplay by up-and-comer Philip Yordan, who would go on to pen more than a dozen noirs, Max Nosseck’s Dillinger packs the gangster’s life into 70 minutes, which ensures fast-paced action that never takes a break, with Lawrence Tierney growling effectively in the title role. Edmund Lowe plays Specs, Dillinger’s prison cellmate who leads the gang until he gets too big for his britches, Elisha Cook, Jr. plays gang member Kirk Otto whose own parents will become casualties of his lifestyle, and Anne Jeffreys plays Helen Rogers, the love interest who may or may not have led Dillinger to his death. Twelve years later, Dillinger would be portrayed on screen again, this time by Leo Gordon in Don Siegel’s Baby Face Nelson (1957); Baby Face was a member of Dillinger’s gang but Yordan’s script oddly omits him here.